"Finally, brethren, whatsoever is true, whatsoever is honorable, whatsoever is right, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."Philippians 4:8

There was very little changed from the original story, except that the owner was not an American Richard Gere. It took place in Japan and below is a piece that Katie Couric ran on her nightly news station. Katie's not in the house, but the piece is right on target and well done.

Hachi~A Dog's Tale of Love and Loyalty

There are many other tales of dogs that have waited on the masters after death came. Dogs that laid on the graves of their master until death came. Dogs losing their lives saving the lives of others. The one that still brings tears to our eyes and a lump to our heart was a pup Jenny named Maggie. Short for Jenny's Southern Magnolia. She wasn't able to have 'papers' as she was the runt of the litter. One blue eye, one green. Having her spayed, we discovered she had no ovaries. Her tear ducts didn't work. and finally, after loving her, and her spoiling us with her devotion, we found her liver was literally non-existent. We had to make that heart breaking decision to put her to sleep. We went to pick her up and they had cleaned her and wrapped her in her blanket. She looked like she was simply asleep. John said driving home I keened like a mother dog. I don't remember. I do remember grieving for days, for weeks. Even now, there are times I listen for her little feet to come pattering across the tile to me. I believe that she in the Garden, whole, happy, playing with the children I miscarried. Our pups may not have souls but He made them for our enjoyment and delight. I believe He takes them Home for His and those He has brought home to live in the Garden until that great day when we walk through the gates of Heaven with Him. I watched this movie on Netflix, but however you see it, make sure you see it. We need more movies like this. Less movies like Scream and Halloween. Just sayin'.

For the last three weeks, the oak tree that 'shades' {John's favorite term for it} our driveway has driven this OCD lady crazy with the hundreds and hundreds of acorns that are rolling, stuck, and smashed on our driveway! I don't even walk in the yard over there because you risk rolling on them and breaking a bone! Aren't the squirrels supposed to do something with these little 'oaks'. I mean, don't they EAT acorns! Our HOA takes care of our yard each and every Thursday and then on Saturdays, Mondays, and some Wednesdays I'm out there raking, sweeping and basically hosing off the drive. You should hear cars driving around our circle ~ sounds like a monster crunching bones.

While perusing my Fall board on Pinterest tonight, I decided to divide up the Tablescapes from the normal Fall ideas. And that's when it hit me. Well, not literally. One did the other day while I was out with the water hose but that's another story. I found some neat innovative ways to use those darned acorns! Look what I found! {Note: if you want to know where you can find the links, you'll have to click HERE and go to my Pinterest board. All I'm providing here are the photos!}

I love this. You can buy a bag of wine corks

at Target! Yea, girl. You can!

Look how adorable! Grab a bouquet at

the grocery. It'll last two weeks!

or get some silkies and scatter around~

Other than the one with corks, this is my fav.

I heart candles. Oh my, yes.

Haley Gray! I do need to call you!

As we say in the South,

"Happy Fall, Y'all"

UPDATE: Aaaaaccchhh, there are weevils in acorns. I just had a friend FB me with that info. I Googled it and sure enough, maggot looking larvae grow into weevils! Someone. Anyone. How do we kill them so we can make these arrangements with them?! The Dark Side of Collecting Acorns.

UPDATE 2: Okay, so there's nothing you can do about the worms, which grow from the maggots. I throw up in my mouth a little just typing that word. IF there's a hole in the acorn, the 'm' thing has already crawled OUT and you should be okay. IF there is NO hole, then yore gonna have a mealy maggot in the mornin', gulfriend. Eeewww. So go buy some. In fact, here's a site:

and click HERE for the link! Or order them from Pottery Barn {big smile font!}